Taguig- SM Reacts To BCDA Claim

SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) reacted to the statement made by Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president Arnel Casanova that under an executive order, proceeds from leases and joint ventures entered into by BCDA should be divided equally between BCDA and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

 

“With all due respect to the AFP, it’s kind of wrong to say we’re depriving them of funds that should go to their modernization, kasi ang may-ari dito Taguig at ang mga makikinabang dito ay constituents ng Taguig. So yung constituents ng Taguig ang tinutulungan namin dito kasi siya yun owners, so sa coffers niya mapupunta,” SM Prime Holdings vice president for legal Edgar Ryan San Juan.

 

According to a related article from the Inquirer:

By virtue of the Deed of Conveyance on Jan. 17, 2008, the BCDA transferred the property to Taguig City, without any land use or zoning restrictions.

It was clear in the Deed of Conveyance that the “BCDA shall no longer pursue and hereby withdraws, drops, relinquishes any and all its claims over the properties specified under Section I of the abovementioned MOA. Also, BCDA shall not place any restrictions on the land use or zoning of the properties…”  The BCDA issued “clean” titles to Taguig, with no liens or encumbrances.

Therefore, whatever claims the BCDA may have on the property has been relinquished. The contractual stipulations in the Deed of Conveyance show the clear intent of the BCDA to unconditionally allow Taguig City to freely use the property or to solely determine the property’s appropriate zoning classification.

Since the subject parcels of land are no longer owned by the BCDA, it is clear that the property is not part of Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

 

San Juan said in an interview, that because the property was given by the BCDA to Taguig as part of a compromise agreement, it is owned by Taguig and lease revenues should benefit the people of Taguig.

 

My say: Before a decision should be made, all considerations must be taken into account.  We must always think what’s best for the majority.  Yahweh bless.

Metro Rail Transit 3- Extortion Scandal

Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar accuses top government officials in the Aquino administration are protecting those he implicated involved in an extortion attempt for an assurance to secure a contract for the modernization of Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT3) line.  He also accused Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya of a coverup by not acting on his allegations. —Coming from an honorable official from another country, this looks like a challenge to our present administration to give due attention and appropriate action to a significant issue.

Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) answered all Rychtar’s concerns and should reply to his new allegations.
“This is a DOTC matter on which their spokesman has already stated their position as may be gleaned from online news sources. We see no need to comment further,” Coloma said.  —It may be reasonable for the palace to say that Ambassador Rychtar’s concerns be answered by the proper office or department, but saying the no comment words makes the people question their stand against this scandal.

Rychtar claimed that some DOTC officials, including  MRT general manager Al Vitangcol, demanded $30 million from Czech train coach supplier Inekon for it to secure the contract to provide several coaches for the modernization of the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) line.

In an affidavit submitted to the House of Representatives, Rychtar said the alleged extortion attempt was undertaken during a dinner attended by Inekon Group board chairman Josef Husek, an Inekon executive named Haloun, Vitangcol, a businessman named Wilson De Vera, and a certain M. de la Cruz.

Rychtar said that Vitangcol left after the dinner, while the group headed to Rychtar’s residence to continue the discussion about the MRT project.

That was when, Rychtar said, De Vera attempted to extort from the Inekon officials. Rychtar had earlier asserted that De Vera was acting as Vitangcol’s emissary. —An honorable foreign official would think twice before making serious allegations such as this before our government, unless he is sure about it.  For this can have a deep impact to our relation with their country.

Let me just quote this before my piece:

Ito po ang aking ikatlong SONA, at parang kailan lang nang nagsimula tayong mangarap. Parang kailan lang nang sabay-sabay tayong nagpasyang tahakin ang tuwid na daan. Parang kailan lang nang sinimulan nating iwaksi ang wang-wang, hindi lamang sa kalsada kundi sa sistemang panlipunan.

Dalawang taon na ang nakalipas mula nang sinabi ninyo, “Sawa na kami sa korupsyon; sawa na kami sa kahirapan.” Oras na upang ibalik ang isang pamahalaang tunay na kakampi ng taumbayan. President Benigno S. Aquino III

I guess we Filipinos are just fed up with the overly familiar word associated with the government, and that is corruption.  I voted for our president because I know he can do a lot to help regain the people’s trust to the government.  And I do believe that he is also against corruption, same as his parents.  It always shows in the words he spoken in every State of the Nation Address (SONA) he had.  —I believe our president won’t just let this case slip through.  Yahweh bless.

Camp John Hay’s Sobrepeña ₱1.15B Estafa Case

In relation with the ongoing Camp John Hay dispute, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) filed a 1.1 billion criminal case of estafa against Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevCo) chair Robert “Bob” Sobrepeña.  In which, last June 16, Mr. Sobrepeña posted bail amounting to P40,000 at the Pasay Regional Trail Court Branch 119 after Judge Pedro de Leon Gutierrez issued a warrant for his arrest after the Department of Justice indicted him on June 10 for failing to pay the BCDA for the rental of 247 hectares within the John Hay Special Economic Zone (JHSEZ).

posted bail in connection with the P1.1-billion estafa case filed against him by the Department of Justice at the behest of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. – See more at: http://cjhdc.com/cjhdevco-chair-posts-bail-for-p1-1-b-estafa-case/#sthash.LE3DhmiE.dpuf

posted bail in connection with the P1.1-billion estafa case filed against him by the Department of Justice at the behest of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. – See more at: http://cjhdc.com/cjhdevco-chair-posts-bail-for-p1-1-b-estafa-case/#sthash.LE3DhmiE.dpuf

posted bail in connection with the P1.1-billion estafa case filed against him by the Department of Justice at the behest of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. – See more at: http://cjhdc.com/cjhdevco-chair-posts-bail-for-p1-1-b-estafa-case/#sthash.LE3DhmiE.dpuf

posted bail in connection with the P1.1-billion estafa case filed against him by the Department of Justice at the behest of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. – See more at: http://cjhdc.com/cjhdevco-chair-posts-bail-for-p1-1-b-estafa-case/#sthash.LE3DhmiE.dpuf

posted bail in connection with the P1.1-billion estafa case filed against him by the Department of Justice at the behest of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. – See more at: http://cjhdc.com/cjhdevco-chair-posts-bail-for-p1-1-b-estafa-case/#sthash.LE3DhmiE.dpuf

posted bail in connection with the P1.1-billion estafa case filed against him by the Department of Justice at the behest of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court. – See more at: http://cjhdc.com/cjhdevco-chair-posts-bail-for-p1-1-b-estafa-case/#sthash.LE3DhmiE.dpuf

It can be recalled that BCDA accused Mr. Bob Sobrepeña of making fraudulent financial declarations to evade full payment of rental fees from 1998 to 2000.

Under the terms of the 1996 Lease Agreement, CJHDevCo supposed to pay an annual rent to the BCDA of ₱425 million or 5% of gross income for the first five years of the lease, whichever was higher.  This meant that for 1998 to 2000, the Government was supposed to receive at least ₱1.275 Billion in rent.

“Mr. Sobrepeña is ready to face this incredulous charge and prove his innocence in court,” CJHDevCo spokesman Manuel Ubarra Jr. said. Ubarra said the case is based solely on BCDA’s allegation that Sobrepeña committed “false pretense” as to CHJDevCo’s finances, resulting in the deferment rental payment for 1998, 1999 and 2000.
“The Department of Justice resolution is infirm on several points. First, whatever statement Mr. Sobrepeña may have made concerning CJHDevCo’s solvency was not what induced the BCDA to defer payment of CJHDevCo’s rental obligations,” he said.
Ubarra said BCDA agreed to defer rental payments under two restructuring memorandum of agreements signed in August 1999 and July 2000. – See more at: http://cjhdc.com/cjhdevco-chair-posts-bail-for-p1-1-b-estafa-case/#sthash.LE3DhmiE.dpuf

The BCDA president and chief executive officer Mr. Arnel Casanova had also noted earlier that the firm officials’ “representations on their finances were fraudulent and misleading.  The real issue here is CJHDevCo’s nonpayment of lease rentals to government while declaring dividends, extending cash advances and assignment of shares amounting to ₱1.274 billion to its stockholders in 1998 to 2000” , Casanova said.

In an interview, Sobrepeña denied the allegations against him, and he describes the case filed to him as “purely for harassment.”

He added that while his firm had paid 40 percent of its dues to BCDA, only 25 percent of  it’s commitment has been delivered.  The denial of building and other permits resulted in CJHDevCo being able to develop only 4 of 25 hectares, severely affecting income generation. Nevertheless, the company said it was able to remit ₱1.4 billion to the BCDA, or approximately 40 percent of all payments due.

“A delay in the schedule of development would have a corresponding loss in projected revenue, although CJHDevCo continued to earn revenue from existing projects”, Sobrepeña explained.

In a CJHDevCo article:

According to CJHDevCo spokesman and lawyer Manuel Ubarra Jr., “Mr. Sobrepeña is ready to face this incredulous charge and prove his innocence in court,”.  He added that the case is based solely on BCDA’s allegation that Sobrepeña committed “false pretense” as to CHJDevCo’s finances, resulting in the deferment rental payment for 1998, 1999 and 2000.

“The Department of Justice resolution is firm on several points. First, whatever statement Mr. Sobrepeña may have made concerning CJHDevCo’s solvency was not what induced the BCDA to defer payment of CJHDevCo’s rental obligations,” he said.

Ubarra said BCDA agreed to defer rental payments under two restructuring memorandum of agreements signed in August 1999 and July 2000.

He said the “whereas” clause expressly stated that CJHDevCo’s inability to undertake its development plans and realize its projected sales and revenues were caused by BCDA’s admitted breaches of the lease agreement, delays in fulfilling its obligations and the detrimental effects of the Asian financial crisis on the Philippine economy.

“These were the expressed reasons why BCDA agreed to the deferment of rental payments, not the imagined reasons now belatedly advanced by the BCDA,” Ubarra said.

According to the CJHDevCo official, the two memoranda of agreement were validated not only by the BCDA’s board of directors but also by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel before these were approved by the Office of the President.

“Second, the DoJ resolution appears to have unduly singled out Mr. Sobrepeña. The charges against the rest of the board of directors of CJHDevCo were all dismissed on the ground of lack of probable cause. In contrast, Mr. Sobrepeña alone was charged to face prosecution for estafa,” Ubarra pointed out.

He also questioned how the DoJ investigating prosecutor was able to determine that it was Sobrepeña’s alleged statements that induced BCDA to sign the 1999 and 2000 memoranda of agreement.

“These transactions occurred about fifteen years ago. The sole witness for the BCDA is Mr. Arnel Casanova, who was not even a member of the BCDA Board of Directors that approved the agreements in 1999 and 2000. Mr. Casanova undeniably had no personal knowledge of the true reasons why the BCDA board approved the agreements,” he said.

Ubarra also noted that the ₱1.15 billion estafa complaint being claimed by the BCDA was one of the issues that’s already submitted for resolution in an ongoing arbitration case.  Yahweh bless.

Dispute Over Baguio City’s Camp John Hay

As a former resident of Baguio City, it’s just sad to hear that the people are caught between the crossfire of dispute over Camp John Hay.  Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan said that if the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) agreed to collect from its developer, Camp John Hay Development Corp (CJHDevCo) its offer of ₱500 million as rental income, the 25-percent amounting to ₱125 million, would have greatly benefited the Baguio community.  Had it only BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Casanova settled their disagreement with CJHDevCo Chair Robert John “Bob” Sobrepena’s group and agreed to talk to them, this wouldn’t have happened.  

According to an article: When the lease agreement for Camp John Hay was signed in 1997, by congressional authority, the city of Baguio was given an equitable share of 2 percent from the gross income of operations from Camp John Hay and is also entitled to 25 percent of the rentals paid to the BCDA or 30 percent of the net income from all operations in Camp John Hay, whichever is higher. When CJHDevCo first started developing the area, the city got its share. Among other payments, BCDA received the following from CJHDevCo:

• ₱250 million upon signing of the original lease contract in 1996;
• from the ₱425 million in 1997;
• from the ₱125 million in 2000 after the first restructuring memorandum of agreement;
• and from the ₱100 million in July and August of 2003. 

It was however, on the last memorandum of agreement in July 2008, when John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC), a BCDA’s subsidiary, set up a “One Stop Action Center” (OSAC) processing and issuing all necessary permits for CJHDevCo within 30 days for the developments in Camp John Hay.  Unfortunately, it’s objectives weren’t realized and instead caused delays in Camp John Hay’s developments.  It somehow made CJHDevCo think that the BCDA was putting it in a position where they are demanded to pay even if the latter had not yet fulfilled its part of the contract. So CJHDevCo decided to suspend payments in 2008.

Nonetheless, CJHDevCo led by Mr. Sobrepeña, is willing to face their obligations, provided that BCDA would fulfill its part in the contract. In a letter to the BCDA last January 9, 2012:

CJHDevCo offers to pay the back rentals with a substantial percentage to be paid up front, provided that the BCDA fully complies with its obligations under the agreement, particularly the establishment of the OSAC with the “full authority to process and issue all business, building and other development permits, certificates and licenses, local and national, from all government agencies necessary to facilitate the construction and commercial operation of the John Hay Special Economic Zone.” 

Quoted below is the position paper Mayor Damogan made to Congress, citing the reason why the two parties needed to settle their dispute quickly.

“Because of the noncompliance with the terms and conditions of the original contract of lease and the various restructuring memoranda of agreement that followed, the agreement between the city government and BCDA to utilize its 25-percent share from the lease rentals of Camp John Hay could not be realized. The payment of the total consideration of P250 million purchase price of the Baguio Convention Center together with the one-hectare lot where it is standing, did not materialize. The city was then forced to pay the remaining P208 million including not less than P110-million interest of the unpaid balance from its own resources after GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) condoned P50 million as part of the said interest.”

My say: With the recent appearance of Mr. Bob Sobrepeña in Pasay Regional Trial Court to post bail for an estafa case filed against him by the BCDA,  my hopes are the same with the people of Baguio that the dispute between BCDA and CJHDevCo will be effectively resolved.  And in order for this to happen both parties must be willing to “give and take”.  As Mayor Domogan said in an interview, CJHDevCo is willing to pay in good faith all the rentals however it is also seeking the commitment of BCDA to fulfill its own end of the contract.  Yahweh bless.

GET READY TO BE IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN…

Every woman’s dream is to be loved by someone who looks at them with awe however ugly they feel they are. A person who will cherish them till their last breath and tells them how much they love them even in the most difficult and hopeless times.

Women always have this fantasy for a man in shining armour who will rescue them in desperate times. This is the reason why the books written by a famous author named Eve Montelibano have made every woman’s dream come true in the novels that she writes. One of her master pieces is the Lothario Series. Printed and released by the Love Match Company, the latest Lothario novel , Desiring Drew is gonna be out in the market days from now.

After a long wait, every Love Match fan can’t wait to grab a copy of the latest Lothario written by an author who just knows how to awaken a woman’s desire for a love that defies all odds.

If you wish to have a copy of their latest release, please check out their website above. If you are in Davao city you can visit @ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Love-Match-Exclusive-Davao-Outlet for reservations and orders.

Desiring Drew is indeed a perfect Christmas gift for those who patiently waited for its release. If you haven’t read any of Eve Montelibano’s books yet, Girl, I tell you, you are missing a lot. If you are the kind of person who believes in love that knows no bounds, then these novels are for you. Get ready to be swept away.

JANE, KING OF THE JUNGLE

Warning: This post is only for those who have an open mind and have the capacity to create a paradigm shift from the norms set by our biased society. This article is not made to make you stumble in your belief and perspective in the art of getting what you want. This is written to empower women and holds nothing against the opposite sex.  But if you are a male chauvinist, please don’t continue to read (except if you’re prepared to have a cerebral hemorrhage! at your own risk then…)… Thank you very much.

Well, hello Independent Woman!!!….. This post is for you…. But first you have to say “Veni, Vidi, Vici!”

JANE, KING OF THE JUNGLE

(From the best seller series LOTHARIO…Desiring Drew)

Imagine this. He comes crawling to lick your toes at the snap of your fingers. He waits patiently for you to finally shift your attention to him.  He asks you nicely and reverently what you want.  You tell him and he listens and takes everything you tell him to heart.  He obliges all your wishes humbly with everything in him.

A fantasy you might say. It doesn’t happen in the real world. But why can’t it happen?  Why can’t we rule this planet for a change?  We are certainly equipped for the task.

More often that not, even the most liberated Pinays settle for second or third best, not really their first choice of mates because they bulk at the idea of actually pursuing their dream men like that- like a dream, like a goal, like an ambition.

Society dictates that it is degrading to go after a man. It reeks of desperation.  But when a man pursues a woman with typical male aggressiveness, he becomes more appealing to the opposite sex.  The hunter gets his prey, as it should always be since time immemorial. Now, that has always been a major crime in Planet Venus. And the worst part there is we are the ones who uphold such crime by refusing to move away from that mold society has imprisoned us in, though no choice of our own. But now, for crying out loud, we already have it! The choice!

So you may ask yourself, why can’t I choose my mate? And why would my choice of a mate run from me when I decide to choose him? Shouldn’t he stay put and consider my proposal like a practical businessman? After all, I am offering him the best of me. The answer is yes, he damned well should! And by God, you would make him listen!

We work so hard to make our individual marks in this world, to prove our worth. As independent women, we aim for financial stability, to have our dream house and car, to travel abroad, to get promoted at work. Not having any ambition is a crime to most modern Filipinas.

So why not apply the same principle in getting the man of our dreams?  Don’t we deserve to choose who we want to be with rather than wait for anybody who has the guts to approach us whom we don’t often like anyway- and go for whom we really want?  Why does this privilege only favor the men when we can avail of this freedom if only we have the courage to be truly free?

Why don’t we become the hunter for a change? yeah, the aggressor. The dominant species. The predator. The ruler of this planet!

Take this. A woman can achieve multiple orgasm. A man cannot. A woman can procreate using only one sperm. Even with a healthy egg at hand, a man is not physically equipped to carry a life within his body. Eve made made Adam bite the apple and caused the damnation to mankind.

Come on, do we need more stats, ladies?

The planet is ours, actually, since the dawn of time.  We have always been the stronger species.  Never ever think that you owe anybody the right to be who you really are, what  you want to be and what you want to have.

Be yourself.

Own your space.

Set your sights on him, your perfect mate and say the magic words,”Veni, Vidi, Vici!”

Go get him, girl!

Independent Woman

This is an article written by my favourite author in the world…..EVE MONTELIBANO….I’ll forever be your greatest fan!!!

LOVE IS A RUSSIAN RUOLETTE

(From the best seller series LOTHARIO…Desiring Drew)

Hello, Independent Woman. Have you ever been to a point where the very thought of dating makes you cringe? I’m sure you have. Just thinking of meeting another potential Mr. Right in the form of a blind date gives you the eww feeling. You’re tired of your Mom and her friends and your BFF trying to pair you off to strangers. The whole process of getting-to-know makes you nauseous. You’d rather be in a spa being pampered from head to toe than getting dressed up for a guy you don’t even know from Adam and who will likely turn out to be the worst date of your life. As always!

But that’s getting way ahead of it.

Let me have the fun of describing what we have all experienced in this state of insanity called “Looking for THE ONE”. It’s temporary, mind you. It’s curable. But a lot of us love to be in this state. It’s fun and exciting, until your ego starts getting a beating, and it’s downhill from then on.

Looking for Mr. Right nowadays is likely playing Russian Roulette. It’s a lethal game of chance where you spin the odds of finding love and your heart on line, hoping that when you spin the cylinder of fate and pull the trigger, you don’t get the fatal bullet. It’s an expedition of gigantic proportions that requires a lot of time, effort and resources on your part and it’s bound to bring you disappointment, disillusionment and will more likely turn you from a hopeless romantic to a hard-core cynic.

Okay, so you are a romantic and you want to fall in love with this epitome of manhood. You wait and wait for him to come to your way but he never does. You realize one day while in the middle of reading a romance book or watching a Sandra Bullock rom-com that you cannot find him in the pages of a Johanna Lindsey fiction while snuggled in your pink Victorian bed or in the faces and bodies of Keanu Reeves, Hugh Grant or Ryan Reynolds. You have to look for him. You have to go out there, scour the universe to find him.

The thing is, you don’t know where to look because Mr. Right could be anywhere—in a restaurant pigging out on a steak, in a bank plotting to rob it, in a night club hoping to get discovered by a talent scout, in an airport fixing a busted engine, scaling the Everest trying to beat a world record, in an online dating site desperately looking for you too but getting sidetracked by eye-candies, or he could be taking care of a zoo in Namibia with Brangelina. The places where he could be and the possible ways to meet him are endless. And there are so many obstacles you can encounter too while you look for your beloved Knight in Shining Armour.

You would encounter other men along the way and you may mistake them for your prince and then you discover that they are not what you were looking for, provided you know exactly what you are looking for in the first place. You have this imaginary ideal man— and you often create him out of several personalities you have read, met or seen, say Chace Crawford’s face, Paul Walker’s body, Marc Zuckerberg’s business savvy (self-made billionaire in his twenties, how’s that for business savvy?), Bill Gates’ philantrophic heart, the Dalai Lama’s wisdom, Larry King’s sharp witt, your father’s patience and kindness and your classmate Lan’s (who’s had a crush on you since kinder) sweetness and thoughtfulness.

The man of your dreams is like Frankenstein of the finest human parts and qualities and you love idealizing him within the magical castle of your fairytale dreams than in the glaring light of reality. And more often than not, you think that you have found him already only to be disappointed over and over, because every man you meet feels right in the beginning and ends up totally wrong in the end. But you never lose hope. You know it deep in your heart and soul, you will find him. You’ll just have to keep the faith and be more patient and one day soon, he will come revving in his black Lamborghini, ready to take you on a wild ride to ever after. And your search for the myth continues.

Indeed, finding your soulmate is like playing Russian Roulette. Sooner or later you get the bullet.

And no, that wasn’t a metaphor. J

Almost Celebrated New Year at the Hospital

Just right after Christmas day, I had to bring my son to the doctor due to a high grade fever. I was only planning to have him checked at an outpatient department because I thought that it was just a mild condition and that he(my son) can recuperate with just take home medication.

While waiting for our turn to be checked by the pediatrician, my son started to look weak and his fever wasn’t subsiding despite the Paracetamol I gave him. It was when he started vomiting that I finally decided to bring him to the emergency room and opted for his  admission. And so he was admitted, admitting diagnosis: Bronchopneumonia. Good thing the nurse didn’t have difficulty looking for an IV access, he only did it with one stick.

It was December 26th and we were at the hospital instead of enjoying the holiday at home. But not a single regret did I feel in having my son admitted in a hospital. I cannot be more at ease, knowing that my son is being hydrated, treated with antibiotics, closely monitored by nurses with doctors ready available when needed.

Day 2 was okay, my son’s fever was no longer noted. On day 3, the doctor decided to send us home. We were ready to go home, I already packed our things and I was about to pay our bill when he again had a fever. I was then hesitant to bring him home and asked the doctor to have my son reassessed for discharge. As expected the discharge order was held.

Day4 was the scariest part. The doctor told me that he was hearing some heart murmurs (abnormal sounds of the heart). Although he somehow pacified me that those murmurs were probably due to his illness, he called it physiologic murmurs and is nothing to be worried about. Still I couldn’t help but feel scared of the possibility that my son has a hole in his heart. God forbid.

Even if I was quite confident that it was just physiologic, maybe because I always felt God’s presence with us since day 1, and that I knew that He wouldn’t allow that to happen to my son. Still, I had to have a concrete evidence that it was really so. That is why when the doctor recommended  a 2Decho, I immediately said lets do it.

waiting for our turn for 2Decho...

Praise God the 2Decho result was normal. It made us all at ease. It was on December 31st that the doctor finally made a discharge order. And so I immediately arranged for our bill and had it settled right away.

As planned, from the hospital we traveled to General Santos City, to my parents home to witness new year’s eve, the Gensan way! We had a great reason to celebrate and thank the Lord for. My son was finally well and we were able to witness fireworks display again since they banned fireworks some 10 years ago in the city where we live. A reunion with my family only happens once in a while so we savored every moment together.

Thank You God for a Blessed Christmas and an awesome new year!

My son’s admission in the hospital was a learning experience. It made us value good health and time together.

 

Bon Voyage My Friend

It’s just like yesterday that I was transferred to a different unit. A unit new and quite strange to me. The Intensive Care Unit. When I was told that I’d be transferred to a new area, an ICU at that, I had some apprehensions. Considering that it’s a critical care area, I would have to adjust with new nurses and a specialized environment at the same time. Mixed emotions as they would call it.

Never did I expect that I would find a family in all of my new colleagues. Life in an Intensive Care Unit is never lax and easy. Like they always say, there is never a dull moment in these areas. That is why having true and funny people to work with is a consolation. It was a blessing in disguise for me being transferred to this area because I got to meet nurses who don’t look at a very busy work the negative way. They always have time to laugh and take things easy even if the going gets tough.

Now that another nurse in our unit is leaving for a greener pasture in another country, I can’t help but feel sad. Of course I am happy that he will have a better chance at a better life, but thinking that I won’t be seeing him around anymore makes me feel lonely. Another friend is leaving me…..I hope I can easily adjust with that because I will terribly miss him.

To Mr. Jamie Legaspino, may you have a good and abundant life ahead of you. Always remember that distance may separate us, but our hearts won’t. I will surely miss you, but be safe and keep in touch. Keep your kind and humble heart intact and always remember to keep your feet on the ground, like the person that you always are.

Bon Voyage my friend!!

 

In Time

I feel so lucky to have been granted a 6 days off from work. These 6 days,  I have to savor to the last minute my body can take. I have to make each day count, productive yet enjoyable. I am still on my 3rd day and I’m already wishing for an extension…lol…Well, that’s just a wish.

This afternoon, I, my husband and my sister watched the movie In Time. It was a very interesting  fiction movie. It’s not because it was starred  by two of my favorite stars, Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried but  because it can make you wonder how would you cope if you happen to live in that  world. It tells about reality portrayed in a fiction. In the movie, time was the existing currency. For every commodity, food or luxury you enjoy, you have to pay it with time from your life. What would you do if you have centuries to live or just hours before your heart stops to beat. Lucky for those who can afford to buy time but in the case of Justin (lead actor), he had to live by the day. It’s because he lived in a poor community where working for the whole day is only worth one day of additional life, just enough for food, transportation and other necessities. It pains me to watch how people struggled for time. Even if it is obviously only a work of imagination, still time as money is true. The movie literally Illustrated the saying “Time is Gold”. Well, just watch the movie and see if you can relate.

I wish that all of us have an equal chance at life where the word rich or poor don’t exist. Well, that’s just me, wishful thinking.